


Burn Me Up

by katayla



Category: Hidden Legacy Series - Ilona Andrews
Genre: F/M, Makeouts, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 09:26:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5451686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katayla/pseuds/katayla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As always, Nevada does a fantastic job of convincing Rogan that they shouldn't be together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burn Me Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [empressearwig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/empressearwig/gifts).



> Thank you to my beta!

I'd been in my bedroom for barely ten minutes when someone knocked on my door. I held my breath and counted to ten. It was only the first day of summer vacation. Far too early to kill my siblings.

When I got to nine, the door swung open, and Rogan stepped in. I spent another few seconds trying to decide if that was better or worse than my sisters.

He glared at me and slammed the door shut.

Worse. Definitely worse.

"You know, if you bother to knock, the polite thing to do is wait for a response." I stood up from my bed. Beds and Rogan were a terrible combination.

"And what is the polite thing to do when a man sends you chocolate?" he asked, in the same matter-of-fact tone I had used.

"You sent me five thousand pounds of chocolate! We couldn't open the door!"

"I trust it went to the same place as the flowers?"

I reached over to my bedstand and handed him the card from the children's hospital thanking him for his donation. He threw it over his shoulder and took a step closer to me. "And you didn't keep one . . . little . . . piece for yourself?"

By the time he finished talking, he was standing barely three inches from me. His eyes were aglow as he looked me up and down.

_Don't back up, don't back up._

"I'm sure the children appreciated the chocolate very much."

He chuckled softly. "You didn't answer the question, Nevada."

"And you are not welcome here." I marched past him, and opened the bedroom door.

And stared down at the empty space where the ladder that led to my bedroom should be.

I swung around. "Did you do this?"

He lounged against the doorframe. "How could I manage that?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and was about to make a retort when I saw a white head peek around the stair landing.

"Grandma!" I shouted.

"You can have the ladder back when you play nicely!" Grandma Frida shouted back. "Give him some of your chocolate!"

"You put that ladder back right now!"

"I'm going to the garage. You kids have fun now!"

"Oh, we will!" Rogan said.

I whirled around. "No, we will _not_."

Rogan smirked at me. "Chocolate?"

He held out the box he himself had sent. So, yes, I had kept some. He'd had it flown in from speciality shops around the world and I was curious. I would've kept if it had been from Adam Pierce.

"Connor," I said. "You can't keep doing this."

He shrugged. "Okay, what would you prefer I send you?"

"Nothing! Don't send me things, don't show up, don't--"

He put the chocolate down and walked towards me, his eyes locked on mine. I tried to look away, but I _couldn't_. He drew me in, like he always did. He tipped up my chin, and his lips descended on mine. I closed my eyes and gave into him. Just for the moment. The heat rushed over me, and I swayed towards him. It would be so easy to forget all the reasons I couldn't be with him.

He pulled away a fraction, and mumbled, "Come here."

He wrapped his hand around mine and tugged me toward the bed.

"I'm not sleeping with you here!"

His eyes lit and I inwardly cursed.

"Anywhere! I'm not sleeping with you _anywhere_."

He pulled me onto the bed. "You will not sleep with me in a house. You will not sleep with me in a box."

His hands moved up my shirt. So warm . . . . His hands traveled under my bra. He kept his hands on my back, but the magic flicked around and caressed my breasts. I arched my back and heat traveled downward. Oh right. **This** is what I'd been trying so hard not to think of.

"This isn't working," I said, and pressed closer to him.

"You know I know you're lying," he said, his lips brushing against my ear.

I let out a moan and closed my eyes. I couldn't tell anymore what was his magic and what was his hands, but I seemed to have lost my shirt and my bra. And then his shirt disappeared, and I wrapped my legs around him and--

_No._

I screwed my eyes shut as tight as I could and pushed away from him, and tried to think cold thoughts. Ice cream. Ice cream on Connor's chest. Coating his abs and melting until I licked it---

Well. That wasn't a productive line of thought.

I felt his magic flick across my stomach. Just a quick touch, as if it were asking me a question.

"I am tired of giving you speeches, Connor," I whispered.

"Then don't. Look at me, Nevada."

I opened my eyes and turned my head to face him.

"I _know_ you," he said.

"The problem is I know you, too," I said. "You have no capability to sustain a relationship. We could sleep together--and before you get excited, that's a hypothetical, not a promise--and it wouldn't change anything. You--"

He grabbed me and pulled me on top of him. His kiss had a touch of desperation in it and it was all him, no magic at all. I kissed him back and, this time, he ended it.

"Your call, Nevada. It could be all your call. Whoever you want me to be, I will be that person."

I closed my eyes. It was the wrong answer. Yes, he was an intelligent man. I could give him a list of all the attributes he was missing, and he would learn to fake them. He could probably almost make me forget who he was underneath all the practiced kindness and concern. But only almost. Deep down, I would know he was the same ruthless Mad Rogan.

I leaned down and brushed my lips across his.

"No."

"You're wrong," he said. "You are wrong and you will look back and regret every moment you turned me down."

I climbed off, and lay back down. "I am so tired," I said.

He didn't say anything and, after a while, I fell asleep. When I woke up, Connor was gone, and the ladder was back where it belonged.

I supposed it was for the best.


End file.
